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Furloughs go from bluff to reality. What's next?

1) Your country is attacked by two (at least) apparent
home-grown terrorists. The method they chose: bombs at the Boston Marathon.
That was just over a week ago. The Russian security service reportedly asked the
FBI to check them out two years ago. So there is likely more information, maybe
more trouble, to come.

2) The leader of a starving, what-have-we-got-to-lose
country (rhymes with North Korea) apparently has at least one nuclear weapon. He's
threatened to attack his neighbors, or maybe Texas!

3) We, as a nation, are spending more than we take in. But,
politicians can't agree on how to take in more and from whom.

4) Things in the Middle East — and Central Africa
— aren't getting any better.

5) We are borrowing lots of money from the People's Republic
of China which, in the past, has wished us less than well. And been known to do
some serious hacking.

Answer: Our leaders devised a plan to furlough Defense
Department workers, law enforcement personnel and everybody that works for the
government's premier revenue-collector, the IRS.

The White House and Congress will remain open for business, which
includes getting us out of the mess they created. Why didn't we think of this
sooner?

After months of talk about furloughs and sequestration, the games have
begun. The question for lots of cash-strapped feds is, how long will they go on?
How many furlough days (each representing a pay cut) will they get while their
political leaders, insulated from sequestration, continue to jockey for position?

Defense has — wisely and carefully, many think — been
easing back on the number of days it plans to furlough employees and the start
date of those furloughs. It has gone from 22 days for everybody to perhaps as few
as seven for most, but not everybody.

The IRS has set five furlough days between May and August, with two
more days possible. It will close operations as virtually everyone will be
furloughed on the same days except for those involved in systems security and
building safety. The IRS plan was designed to minimize the financial hit on
employees and was worked out in consultation with the National Treasury Employees
Union, which opposes any furloughs.

Some long-time employees think the furloughs have shifted (thanks to the
calendar) from the bluffing stage to a stalling operation in hopes that they can
be minimized or avoided altogether. Meantime, they are on track, so....

Suppose there is an even more serious (than Boston) event, attack or
incident while DoD is semi-closed for business. Earlier, the White House spoke
about furloughs of FBI and other federal agents. Is that still on? What happens
if something happens? Who gets hit and, in the aftermath, who takes the political
hit? Or hits?

OMB employees begin furloughs
The White House tells "a majority" of career staff not to come to work. It's the
first of 10 furlough days over the next six months. Labor, FAA and EPA also have
or are furloughing employees.